Death Wobble From Towed

Antper · 03-07-2022, 08:54 PM

I bought a 2020 Jeep GC to tow and this is why I'm battling between Flat or Tow dolling. First off manual says no dolly on my Jeep. Have any of you heard or experienced the Death wobble with a Jeep GC? Death wobble is when the vehicle towed steers left to right violently on its own while pulling it.I understand the jeep has one of the highest battery draws while in tow because the later units as for example 2016 on up have an electric PS pump. Apparently you need to buy some new harness to help keep a higher charge rate to keep battery level up. I thought RVI on board battery charger would be able to handle. Others have feed the charging power to battery through the & pin connector or the RV? My question is in flat tow isnt the vehicle not running and how is the electric steering using power in vehicle in off mode? Curious to hear from other later model Jeep GC flat towers

DustyGeek · 03-07-2022, 09:27 PM

On my 2019 Wrangler, I just set the transfer case to neutral, turn it off, make sure the parking brake isn’t engaged and set up the brake system. Does the Grand Cherokee have a steering lock or something which requires the key to be in the on position? Otherwise, it’s likely you’d be able to do the same as me.

One thing I haven’t done yet is add any battery charger or maintainer, so mine runs the brake controller (original Blue Ox Patriot) off battery while we’re underway. I was looking at the RVi charger, though.

Haven’t had any issues with death wobble or battery issues yet in the two years and 10K(ish) we’ve been towing it, and I imagine the Rubicon trim/package on mine makes it more suseptible to it.

I normally wouldn’t have chimed in given the apple/orange nature of my response, but DW was looking at Compasses, Cherokees and Grand Cherokees last year, so I’m curious to hear how this turns out.

GHen · 03-08-2022, 12:56 AM

I had a 97 wrangler, flat towed it many miles. Never had any problems. Put larger tires on it, still no issues even up to 70mph.

Antper · 03-08-2022, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GHen

I had a 97 wrangler, flat towed it many miles. Never had any problems. Put larger tires on it, still no issues even up to 70mph.

Thanks. 70 MPH now thats moving. I think the wobble is associated with the later models with more electronic devices and I believe mainly with electric Power steering option that factors in. Years 2016 and up. Glad your set up is working out.

Travel · 03-08-2022, 06:32 AM

We just bought a 2022 Jeep Cherokee 4XE. It’s the new hybrid model. We don’t get it for eight weeks. Hope we don’t have any issues flat towing it!!

Jacjayco · 03-08-2022, 07:17 AM

There are a lot of flat tow Jeep products out there. They seem to be the favorite TOAD .
If there were death wobble issues, I don't think that would be the case.

RVermont · 03-08-2022, 07:31 AM

I tow a 17 GC and have not had any issues other then it is a lot heaver than my wrangler. I do use a RVI battery maintainer as the RVI braking system will drain the battery over time.

CAG · 03-08-2022, 09:52 AM

So, a good place to start looking on the site is the search feature in the gold bar at the top of the page. This is a thread that was just running a few weeks ago. There are more but this is the most recent. Probably more than you want to know but there are few topics that have not been covered at least once and some so often it makes one's head hurt.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ble-93077.html

201822j · 03-08-2022, 10:20 AM

I tow a 2010 wrangler. Wranglers can be notorious for death wobble especially when lifted. I would think that the way it drives is the way it will tow. If for some reason only under tow you get wobbling it's because of some unevenness between the tow bar, mounting points and the TOAD.
I run 3 power sources.
1 - braking system
2 - Brake system RV monitor (Wifi)
3 - Wifi brake/light system
Fortunately the brake system monitor gives me Battery voltage of my TOAD so I can watch for something going bad.
I've towed 12 hours straight and the jeep's battery has been fine. Nice thing about wranglers is there is no column lock so no need to turn key to Aux/unlock.

GHen · 03-08-2022, 10:44 AM

Some of the older jeeps had wobble associated with the steering linkage. As noted above, it’s much worse on lifted jeeps. They added what looks like a shock absorber to the drag link. Seems to solve most issues.

Antper · 03-08-2022, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAG

So, a good place to start looking on the site is the search feature in the gold bar at the top of the page. This is a thread that was just running a few weeks ago. There are more but this is the most recent. Probably more than you want to know but there are few topics that have not been covered at least once and some so often it makes one's head hurt.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ble-93077.html

I'm sorry I made your head hurt.lol. I will use the gold bar first in the future.

foglght · 03-11-2022, 09:48 AM

The wobble is, the vast majority of the time, caused by worn suspension components and/or a bad steering stabilizer (shock). When you lift the jeep, you create different geometry in the front axle, which exacerbates any condition you may have had before.

You said Grand Cherokee though. Unless it is a much older GC with a solid axle there is no wobble. Ever.

Trea · 03-23-2022, 01:17 PM

I don't own a Jeep to pull my RV, I pull with an F-250 but when I first started pulling I had what is known as (Death Wobble), I went to my Ford dealer service mgr. who also did Jeeps, he informed me the wobble is called (Steering Oscilation), he told me it was most likely a bad track bar, they replaced it & I have no more wobble.
I had already replaced or installed shocks, heavy duty stablizer bar, camber kit, 3 allignments & rotations. You might do some research on replacing your front track bar, on my truck there is no way to check the bushings on the track bar. I hope this helps you.

Harbour35 · 03-23-2022, 02:17 PM

I have towed Grand Cherokees for several years. Multiple types of roads and conditions.

I follow the instructions in the manual. Transfer case in neutral, transmission in park

Current vehicle is a 2020 GC that actually has more towing miles on it than driving miles

I turn the key off so there is no battery draw.

Braking is with a air brake pedal pusher supplied from the MH

Extreme · 03-23-2022, 08:57 PM

The new Jeep Cherokee have state of the art Electronics which allows you to simply switch to flat towing mode in your Owners manual on the towing page.
Just follow directions to the letter and you will be amazed at the simplicity of the operation.
I have a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk and never had any problem flat towing.
The Jeep service dept will fill you in on the new steering harness and capabilities which are installed at the factory.

txhood · 03-24-2022, 08:27 AM

First of all, I don't recall you saying your GC was 4WD. If not, a trailer is the only safe way to tow. I have a 2020 WK2 and it flat tows beautifully. Put axle in neutral, gear shift in park and shut off the engine. I do run a hot lead from my MH to the Jeep because I use a Brake Buddy braking system and it runs off 12 volt.

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